Known in the art is an acoustic wave element having a piezoelectric substrate and an IDT (interdigital transducer) electrode provided on the major surface of the piezoelectric substrate (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-074698A). The IDT electrode has a pair of comb-shaped electrodes. Each comb-shaped electrode has a plurality of electrode fingers which extend parallel to each other. The pair of comb-shaped electrodes are provided so that their electrode fingers are alternately arranged in the propagation direction of the acoustic wave. That is, the pair of comb-shaped electrodes are provided so as to intermesh with each other.
In such an acoustic wave element, a distortion signal is generated due to nonlinearity of the piezoelectric characteristics. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-074698A discloses a configuration dividing the electrostatic capacity of the acoustic wave element without changing it. By employing such a configuration, it is proposed to divide a voltage which is applied to the acoustic wave element to thereby reduce a distortion wave.